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MUMBAI: Ekushey Television (ETV), Bangladesh's
first private terrestrial television channel, went off air
on Thursday. The ETV's terrestrial broadcast was shut down
by the government at 5:00 pm after the Appellate Division
of the Supreme Court upheld a High Court Division verdict
declaring the license of the ETV illegal.
At 10:50 pm, ETV went off air following a formal announcement,
Bangladesh's Daily Star has reported . However, it is contemplating
filing a writ against the government's stopping the telecast.
The Appellate Division yesterday dismissed the review petitions
filed by the ETV and the ETV chairman and the foreign investors.
A seven-member full court of the Appellate Division chaired
by Chief Justice Mainur Reza Chowdhury delivered the judgement
at 11:35 am, according to the Star.
On 27 March, the High Court declared the ETV's licensing
agreement illegal following a writ petition made by individuals
supporting the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party that
the station did not win its license fairly during the regime
of the earlier government. On 2 July, the Appellate Division
rejected a leave to appeal petition by the ETV, upholding
the High Court verdict that the ETV license was illegal.
However, the court stayed the verdict for five weeks and
then for three more weeks leaving the scope to file a review
petition.
Three years ago, the channel commenced broadcast as both
a terrestrial and a satellite channel. In 2000, a petition
was filed against it by members sympathetic to the governing
coalition led by the BNP. It questioned the manner in which
ETV topped the list of parties when international bids were
invited for setting up a private television channel in the
country in 1998.
Lawyers for the station, which is backed by the American
banking firm Citicorp, had argued that if the licensing
process is found to be defective, it could be replaced by
another. Citicorp has invested over 100 million Tk in the
venture.
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